Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Sep 12;13(1):15063.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-40895-y.

PacBio next-generation sequencing uncovers Apicomplexa diversity in different habitats

Mahmoud Gad  1 , Mariam E Fawzy  2 , Ahmad Z Al-Herrawy  3 , Sayeda M Abdo  4 , Noura Nabet  5 , Anyi Hu  6
Affiliations

PacBio next-generation sequencing uncovers Apicomplexa diversity in different habitats

Mahmoud Gad et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

The phylum Apicomplexa comprises a large group of intracellular protozoan parasites. These microorganisms are known to infect a variety of vertebrate and invertebrate hosts, leading to significant medical and veterinary conditions such as toxoplasmosis, cryptosporidiosis, theileriosis, and eimeriosis. Despite their importance, comprehensive data on their diversity and distribution, especially in riverine environments, remain scant. To bridge this knowledge gap, we utilized next-generation high-throughput 18S rRNA amplicon sequencing powered by PacBio technology to explore the diversity and composition of the Apicomplexa taxa. Principal component analysis (PCA) and principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) indicated the habitat heterogeneity for the physicochemical parameters and the Apicomplexa community. These results were supported by PERMANOVA (P < 0.001), ANOSIM (P < 0.001), Cluster analysis, and Venn diagram. Dominant genera of Apicomplexa in inlet samples included Gregarina (38.54%), Cryptosporidium (32.29%), and Leidyana (11.90%). In contrast, outlet samples were dominated by Babesia, Cryptosporidium, and Theileria. While surface water samples revealed 16% and 8.33% relative abundance of Toxoplasma and Cryptosporidium, respectively. To our knowledge, the next-generation high throughput sequencing covered a wide range of parasites in Egypt for the first time, which could be useful for legislation of the standards for drinking water and wastewater reuse.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
map showing the sampling sites at Nile River and Zenin WWTP.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Principal component analysis (PCA) plot for spatial variation of physicochemical parameters between different habitats (principal components (PC1 and PC2) explained 69.6% of the total variation).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) based on Bray Curtis similarity index showing the β-diversity patterns of the Apicomplexa community.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Cluster analysis of Apicomplexa OTUs in different environments.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Venn shape shows the unique and shared Apicomplexa OTUs in different habitats.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Heatmap showing the distribution of Apicomplexa taxa in different environments.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Taxonomic composition of the Apicomplexa community. Others refer to unclassified and less contributed taxa.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Rodríguez E, García-Encina PA, Stams AJM, Maphosa F, Sousa DZ. Meta-omics approaches to understand and improve wastewater treatment systems. Rev. Environ. Sci. Biotechnol. 2015;14:385–406. doi: 10.1007/s11157-015-9370-x. - DOI
    1. Arregui L, Pérez-Uz B, Salvadó H, Serrano S. Progresses on the knowledge about the ecological function and structure of the protists community in activated sludge wastewater treatment plants. Curr. Res. Technol. Edu. Top. Appl. Microbiol. Microb. Biotechnol. 2010;2:972–979.
    1. Wu L, et al. Global diversity and biogeography of bacterial communities in wastewater treatment plants. Nat. Microbiol. 2019;4:1183–1195. doi: 10.1038/s41564-019-0426-5. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Daims H, Taylor MW, Wagner M. Wastewater treatment: a model system for microbial ecology. Trends Biotechnol. 2006;24:483–489. doi: 10.1016/j.tibtech.2006.09.002. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ariyadasa S, et al. Nonbacterial microflora in wastewater treatment plants: an underappreciated potential source of pathogens. Microbiol. Spectr. 2023;11:e00481–e523. doi: 10.1128/spectrum.00481-23. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types